Im just how long u can leave a black powder re.volver loaded with out the black powder damaging the cylinder .So far from what i have researched u cant leave black powder in a gun for to long without it being corrosive to the gun.

Black powder fouling is corrosive, but unburnt black powder is relatively harmless. Several here have left cylinders loaded for years and had no problems. Longest I've left a cylinder loaded is about a month, only because I can't resist shooting it.

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I've personally had a Pietta 1860 Army Revolver loaded for over a year because I didn't have the time to go shoot it but when I did shoot her, she gave me her authoritive Boom from each chamber.

I've also got a rifle that I had just got back into my posession after 10 years & it was still loaded with a load that I had put into it for hunting prior to my bud getting it from me "bud was supposed to shoot it & maybe go hunting with me but that never happened" & when I pulled the load the powder was just like I would have loaded that day, & no rust or dammage to either gun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawg Haggen

As long as the chambers are clean and dry you can leave it loaded as long as you want to without damage.

I agree 100% & have wrote a posting a while back on how to keep a muzzle loader loaded & as weather resistent as a modern cartridge firearm.

i left my sidelock rifle loaded for no more than 3 days at a time,would go out hunting if i didn't shoot it. i would leave the cap off and lock it in the cabinet. longest i left a rifle loaded was my inline loaded it the morning of jan 10,shot it around 10 am the 29th,it fired just fine. even used the same primer i had in it when in the field. brought the rifle inside after each hunt and locked it in the cabinet. loaded,but without a primer in the nipple.

As long as moisture can't get to the powder (black powder is hygroscopic, meaning it will draw moisture to itself, even out of the air), then it will be fine. There are plenty of instances of BP guns firing just fine after being left loaded for 30, 40, 50 or more years, but if moisture CAN get to the powder charge, it will act like a swab that has been dipped in acid.

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I have kept a cap and ball revolver loaded for 2 years and it fired fine, all five cylinders. I do not use wax on the caps, nor any lube on top of the ball.
This is in the humid North Carolina mountains.

When I lived back in Georgia, I would load my TC Hawken with a patched round ball and 80 grains of Goex. If I didn't get a shot, I took the gun home and left it in my house loaded. I removed the cap and put a plastic snap cap over the nipple, this kept air out. Also, put a strip of white cloth in the muzzle, to keep warm moist air from circulating in there.
In this fashion, I kept my Hawken loaded for as long as 6 weeks, and it always fired fine.

I found a colt replica in a pawn shop loaded with 5 cylindars. who knows how long it was but i got a good deal, took it home cleaned it up. I saw no visible damage to the cylindars at all and man that is a great shooting gun....ahh the smell of black powder

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